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Root Scottys noob friendly root guide-start to finish
- Thread starter scotty85
- Start date
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- Tags
- htc rezound
EddieE
Newbie
Thanks for the detailed instructions. I rooted my Incredible a year ago so I'm not completely new to rooting but I'm rusty. This process for rooting the Rezound seems different from what I can remember when I did my Dinc. I have a question that I believe I know the answer to but I just want to be 100% certain. Is the difference between permanent root and temporary root that with temporary root you can not install a custom ROM? If not then what is the advantage of permanent root? Thank you very much.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
actually,the main difference between temp and permanent root is just that- temp root is only temporaty and generally is undone each time the phone is rebooted
a custom recovery could possibly installed,but would disapear as soon as you boot the phone.there is no more temporary root. the most recent OTA fixed the exploit that had been being used,so until someone comes up with something else,permanent root via htcdev is the only option.
the only thing temporary in this guide is the possible temporary installation of recovery. dont let that confuse you-just because you temporarily install recovery to root,it does NOT mean that you are temp rooted
with htcdev,the old days of having to fight to keep your root access are gone. you can always re-root after OTAs,so temporarily installing your custom recovery makes your life significantly easier if you wish to stay stock rooted,as your stock recovery can and will install OTAs for you as they happen."waiting for device" in fastboot means either a prollem with the fastboot utility or one of its supporting files(missing?) or a prollem with drivers.
try rebooting the phone,reboot the PC. try different usb ports. make sure you are in fastboot,and not in hboot.(if you pushed the power button after "adb reboot bootloader" took you to fastboot,you are not in hboot)
-make sure you followed the above directions carefully. use the "mini-adb" download,rename the unzipped folder to "mini-adb_vigor" so you can directly copy/paste commands without having to remember to change the name.
-what did you do for drivers? the ones i linked for revolutionary are a .exe file that you can run as administrator after downloading,and it should install drivers for you.
-temporarily uninstall htc sync
if youre using my mini-adb file,and are still having prollems after reboots and rerunning the driver .exe file,etc.,youy might try manually updating the drivers by locating the phone(plugged in and in fastboot mode) in device manager.manually update the drivers,pointing them toward the extracted HTCDriver3.0.0.007 file,or htc sync drivers.
very often,a copy of your cmd window is quite helpful. if you continue having prollems,then copy and paste your session by:
-right click in the command window,click mark.
-highlight everything in white. hit enter.
-then,in your "reply to thread" box here,click the "#" up top
-right click and "paste" everything between the
Code:
tags.EddieE
Newbie
actually,the main difference between temp and permanent root is just that- temp root is only temporaty and generally is undone each time the phone is rebooted
there is no more temporary root. the most recent OTA fixed the exploit that had been being used,so until someone comes up with something else,permanent root via htcdev is the only option.
Thanks a million. I understand now. I was confusing temporary root with temporary recovery. I also found a reply you made to someone else in regards that you can install custom ROMS on a temporary recovery. One other question please. After an OTA update removes the root can I use Titanium Backup to restore my apps and settings after rooting again?
thornev
Android Enthusiast
Not all system settings are restored and not all user app settings are restored. Be prepared to go through the settings you've changed to restore them.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
thats the beauty of accepting OTAs. your personal data is not lost or damaged. you wont need to restore anything- just:
1)relaunch recovery
2)reflash superuser
you do NOT need to relock to accept an OTA,therefore,you will NOT need to re-unlock(wiping your data)
EddieE
Newbie
It appears it's not necessary but thank you for the reply anyway.
EddieE
Newbie
thats the beauty of accepting OTAs. your personal data is not lost or damaged. you wont need to restore anything- just:
1)relaunch recovery
2)reflash superuser
you do NOT need to relock to accept an OTA,therefore,you will NOT need to re-unlock(wiping your data)
That is great. It's a pain installing and reconfiguring everything. BTW, I just followed your instructions and rooted using temporary recovery. Everything worked smoothly except one small issue at the end. When I first flashed superuser the process was aborted and there was a message about a problem with the zip file. I just flashed it again and the second time it worked just fine. Thanks again for making this so easy.
phoenixgward
Lurker
Thanks for an extremely easy to follow root guide. I have never rooted a phone before so I was a bit wary of doing so, however the last OTA on the Rezound has absolutely killed my battery life. I went from lasting a full day with moderate/heavy use to lasting max of 6 hours with hardly any use at all. From what I found on Google, a lot of people said it had to do with the Verizon Location Agent running constantly and never letting the phone sleep and the only way to kill it is to root. I rooted my phone in one try with no problems by following your guide and after setting back up my phone I found that the MyBackup Pro app I had had a root access tool that allowed me to freeze the Location Agent and a few other bloatware apps. My battery life has greatly improved but still isn't back to what it was before. My fiancee has the Rezound too and even with moderate to heavy use her battery lasts much longer than mine, still being green around 11pm-midnight when mine has died a few hours before. Do you know of anything else I can do to get my battery life back up? Also, if you don't mind the questions, is Titanium Backup really as good as everyone makes it out to be? Again, thanks so much for an easy guide helping this noob root his phone without screwing up!
Edit: I used your guide and rooted my phone on Thursday 3/1, so am basing the new battery life off the last 2 days, it's lasting about 11 hours with very light use before dying, whereas my previous battery life and my fiancee's battery life will be at between 45-60% after 12+ hours of moderate use.
Edit: I used your guide and rooted my phone on Thursday 3/1, so am basing the new battery life off the last 2 days, it's lasting about 11 hours with very light use before dying, whereas my previous battery life and my fiancee's battery life will be at between 45-60% after 12+ hours of moderate use.
Scotty, thanks so much for the guide. The process couldn't have been any easier or more straightforward, thanks to you! I bought my Rezound after lunch today, and was rooted before dinner.
I did have to try twice to get my Rezound to install SU, but this thread told me that such things aren't uncommon, and told me just to back out, get back into recovery, and try again.
The only thing that threw me off (for about 2 seconds) was that after step 1, you have to go back into settings and re-enable USB debugging.
All in all, my first time rooting took about 30 minutes, because I was being very methodical (i.e. slow).
I've got a nandroid backup, installed Titanium Backup and frozen bloat, and am ready for more ideas on how to take advantage of root and my shiny new Rez.
Thanks again! You rock!
I did have to try twice to get my Rezound to install SU, but this thread told me that such things aren't uncommon, and told me just to back out, get back into recovery, and try again.
The only thing that threw me off (for about 2 seconds) was that after step 1, you have to go back into settings and re-enable USB debugging.
All in all, my first time rooting took about 30 minutes, because I was being very methodical (i.e. slow).
I've got a nandroid backup, installed Titanium Backup and frozen bloat, and am ready for more ideas on how to take advantage of root and my shiny new Rez.
Thanks again! You rock!
scotty85
Extreme Android User
awsome! im glad it was helpful to both of ya 
as for battery life, run a kernel thats slightly undervolted,maybe even underclock it when youre not using it heavy,and definately lower the min and max speeds when the screen is off. minimize the amount of syncs that are being done by various apps and widgets,keep an eye on runing services to see whats always on sucking down the juice.
for what its worth,my battery life is pretty on par with yours. im pretty hard on my phone,i talk via bluetooth 2-3 hours a day,and am constantly waking my phone up for to text,check email,phandroid,etc. i also use it frequently to find things and navigate to them.
only way i could get anywhere near 12 hours would be to put my phone down and not touch it your fiancee seems to be getting better batterly life than most. id try to set your phone up EXACTLY like she does,and try and mess with it similarly over a day when youre together. see if yours is more on par then.
i couldnt get along without titanium backup with the prokey.ive never used my backup pro,so i really couldnt say for sure that one is better than the other.i just happened to get titanium first and theres not much reason to purchase another paid backup app when the one i have does what i need it to. as long as my backup pro will let you do batch backup and restore of your apps,and let you uninstall,freeze,and melt user or system apps, it would prolly suit me fine as well.
as for what else to do with root,you can check out root only apps,and you can modify system files. some folks like to tweek different things like screen density. personally,i like to flash different roms,but what you do with your root access is entirely up to you
as for battery life, run a kernel thats slightly undervolted,maybe even underclock it when youre not using it heavy,and definately lower the min and max speeds when the screen is off. minimize the amount of syncs that are being done by various apps and widgets,keep an eye on runing services to see whats always on sucking down the juice.
for what its worth,my battery life is pretty on par with yours. im pretty hard on my phone,i talk via bluetooth 2-3 hours a day,and am constantly waking my phone up for to text,check email,phandroid,etc. i also use it frequently to find things and navigate to them.
only way i could get anywhere near 12 hours would be to put my phone down and not touch it
your fiancee seems to be getting better batterly life than most. id try to set your phone up EXACTLY like she does,and try and mess with it similarly over a day when youre together. see if yours is more on par then.i couldnt get along without titanium backup with the prokey.ive never used my backup pro,so i really couldnt say for sure that one is better than the other.i just happened to get titanium first and theres not much reason to purchase another paid backup app when the one i have does what i need it to. as long as my backup pro will let you do batch backup and restore of your apps,and let you uninstall,freeze,and melt user or system apps, it would prolly suit me fine as well.
as for what else to do with root,you can check out root only apps,and you can modify system files. some folks like to tweek different things like screen density. personally,i like to flash different roms,but what you do with your root access is entirely up to you
thornev
Android Enthusiast
Mmmm, no, that didn't work for the .11 OTA. I had to relock and run the RUU .exe file to bring my phone back to stock .6 before the .11 OTA would install.you dont really need to run the RUU. you can just flash the stock recovery back,just like you flashed amon
PH98IMG-2.01.605.11-vigor-recovery.zip
PH98IMG-2.01.605.11-vigor-recovery.zip 5e2f77d90d4cdfc0a221113ba52435a7
scotty85
Extreme Android User
thats becasue you waited until the OTA tried to install. if you install it now,and have the stock recovery in place when the next OTA hits,it will work.
if you want some peace of mind that installing only the recovery isnt leaving out some piece of the puzzle,your other option is this:
1)make a backup
2)relock
3)run full RUU
4)re-unlock
5)launch temp recoveruy with fastboot.
6)restore backup
a couple ways to skin the cat, but if you want to seemlessly OTA without losing data,the important thing is to do one or the other prior to the next OTA downloading and trying to install.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
that is correct. if you launch the recovery from fastboot(fastboot boot recoveryname.img) then you can simply wipe and restore without having to flash the boot image seperately.
there is no harm of keeping your recovery permanently installed,as you *could* flash new roms and restore backups that use the same kernal without a PC present,but if you want to want to restore without a seperate kernel flash,then always fastboot boot the recovery into memory rather than booting to your installed recovery.
if rom developers would put kernel updater scripts into their roms,then you would be able to simply FLASH new roms in recovery in the conventional manner,without a seperate kernel flash there either
thornev
Android Enthusiast
Well, OK then. I've become a Scotty85 Disciple. I'm sticking with stock recovery on the phone, flashing a temp recovery when I do ROM/kernel installs, and thus I expect a clean and green OTA whenever it comes. =
Life is good.Am i the only one having trouble with this??? This is what i get when trying to flash a recovery. Any suggestions? I'm almost positive i have all the drivers and files i need.
c:\mini-adb_vigor>adb devices
adb server is out of date. killing...
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
<My serial number> offline
c:\mini-adb_vigor>md5sumsrecovery-ra-vigor-3.14-gnm.img
'md5sumsrecovery-ra-vigor-3.14-gnm.img' is not recognized as an internal or exte
rnal command,
operable program or batch file.
c:\mini-adb_vigor>
c:\mini-adb_vigor>adb devices
adb server is out of date. killing...
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
<My serial number> offline
c:\mini-adb_vigor>md5sumsrecovery-ra-vigor-3.14-gnm.img
'md5sumsrecovery-ra-vigor-3.14-gnm.img' is not recognized as an internal or exte
rnal command,
operable program or batch file.
c:\mini-adb_vigor>
thornev
Android Enthusiast
Your 2nd command is missing a blank between "md5" and "recovery..."
The problem with your 1st command has happened to several people. Search the forum on something like "server out of date" and you may find the solution.
scotty85
Extreme Android User
Well, OK then. I've become a Scotty85 Disciple. I'm sticking with stock recovery on the phone, flashing a temp recovery when I do ROM/kernel installs, and thus I expect a clean and green OTA whenever it comes. =
a couple other things to keep in mind about OTAs:
-most custom roms will have the updater scripts removed,so even being on the correct firmware version the phone will not OTA.
-updter scripts generally only look for official fimrware release versions,not leaks. so if you happened to be on a leak GB rom(for example we get a leak that is version number 2.01.605.13),even tho the OTA version number may be greater(for example 2.01.605.20) the phone will not OTA,as the updater scripts are looking for the last official software 2.01.605.11.
-phone must be on the correct radio to OTA(tho this does not affect us in fake s-off,"unlocked s-on" land,as we cannot change our radio other than an OTA
so if youre on anything other than the current stock software when you get wind of an upcoming OTA,you will want to restore a (mostly)unmolested stock backup
the out of date error is not a big deal and not responsible for the offline status. it is usually fixed as simply as unplugging the phone for a few seconds and then plugging into a different usb port. sometimes a reboot of the phone and/or PC may be needed as well.
Thanks... I think i got it fixed somewhat. I did google "adb server is out of date.... killing" and came up with it being an incompatibility with HTC sync. So i uninstalled HTC Sync and tried again and it worked. I was able to flash a recovery, but now my problem is that when i try to flash my (Superuser-3.0.7-efgh-signed.zip) from my sd-card, i get an installation aborted prompt. And the reason being is something related to a bad file. Any suggestions on that part?
OK so the weird part is that even after i got the installation aborted prompt, i rebooted and seem to have root. I have the SU app and all of my apps that use root are currently working. So my question is, should i leave it alone? or try steps 21-26 to see if i can get it to run through correctly?
Thanks
Thanks